Meesa back! Well, I guess the questions are: 'where have I been?' and 'what have I been doing?'. It's so amazing how fast a whole month can slip through one's fingers. Here are the highlights that have happened in the last 30 days: I made three splendiferous, tasty apple pies; finished knitting a coat; went on vacation; and just a couple days ago, enjoyed a wonderful daylong rain, like there hasn't been in ages (years).

But right now I'm going to post pictures from the places we went on vacation. Not only because it makes a new post, but because I think most of you have never seen these places, and I just want to show them to you.

First we went to Yosemite; these two pictures are from Glacier Point.     7,214ft high

Looking down at the valley, 3,200ft below. These pictures do not do the sceen justice, you don't get the thrill of looking over the cliff edge as when you really do it. Ahhh, it was such a splendid day for being there, slightly cool, but still warm.

El Capitan from the valley And the ever popular view from Yosemite

The next day we headed eastward through the Park on Tioga Pass, and made our way toward Mono Lake. After lunch, we drove south to the June Lake Loop. Most of the area around where we were was all barren, rocky, and brown; with hardly any trees. Then came sparse pines, and finally the lush green trees by the lakes. 

June Lake. There are three others in the area, but this is the only decent picture.

 Some of the trees we saw were turning yellow, but most were this pretty green.

Such beauty that God gives us.

We were nearly out of the Loop after that picture, and then we saw a tree to take a picture of, so we stopped. And across the road we saw a deer, a doe to be precise. She came out of the brush and crossed the road to our side, then came two more critters. They were then kind enough to turn and look at my camera.

And the very big tree:

INTERMISSION

Congratulations, you have made it to the half-way point in this entry. If you are enjoying yourself so far, and wish to keep on, simply keep sitting where you are, and scroll down.

. . .

We then drove back up to Mono Lake, and after visiting the visitors' center, we found a road going down to the Lake. The white 'beach' is encrusted in lots and lots of salt. From the shore, at about 2:00 (direction wise, not time) we could see the large salt pillars called tufas.Detail of the tall grassy plants The first picture doesn't show it clearly, but the water by the shore is covered in these horrible flies!

I had a head cold at this time and couldn't smell anything, a good thing too because my Mom and Dad both said that the smell/stentch near the water was very disgusting. But I didn't smell a thing, for which I am quite glad. :)

The Monarch of Mono

A look back at the mountains after we left Mono.

-

Now we skip ahead a couple of days, and find ourselves in Lake Tahoe looking over Emerald Bay on a cold and windy day.

Upon that beach down there, set back in the pines, is a castle. I knew there was one there, yet I had thought it was on the island. It's called Vikingsholm, and there's a small tea room counterpart on top of the island. We didn't go down to it this time around as it was cold (about 45°) and had started to sprinkle.

On our final day in Tahoe we went down to the beach. It was in the lower 50's, the wind cold and strong, and the water was colder. But the sun was out and tried its best to warm things up.

And then we came home after having a very splendid time.

-Hristë